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Adom Chip Fetcher

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Your whole parts library — manufacturer-grade chip CAD (symbol, footprint, 3D) one tap from your EDA tool.

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adom-chip-fetcher / docs / jst-email-gated-cad.md
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Email-delivered CAD: the JST flow (and how to add any email-gated manufacturer)

Most manufacturers serve CAD as a direct download. A growing few email it to you instead. JST (J.S.T. Mfg. Co., Ltd.) is the reference case: since April 2025, requesting a STEP/IGES file on jst-mfg.com sends it as an email attachment rather than a download. This page documents the whole flow end-to-end so any chip-fetcher user, on any AI, can reproduce it, and so non-Gmail users know exactly what to build to participate.

Proven end-to-end on PHR-2 (2026-06-27): native browser → agreement form → JST emailed PHR-2.zip (containing PHR-2.STEP) → fetched from Gmail → imported. No JST account required.

This is the human-readable companion to the agent playbooks shipped in the skill: playbooks/jst.md and playbooks/jst-email-retrieval.md.

TL;DR

  1. Use a real browser, not a headless/pup one. jst.com (USA) is Cloudflare-protected and blocks automated browsers. Drive your real, signed-in Chrome via the Adom native-browser bridge (adom-browser-extension).
  2. JST's CAD lives on the global site jst-mfg.com, organized by series (PH = 199, SH = 231, … ~600 series). jst.com just routes there.
  3. A part's Download button does not return a file — it returns a License Agreement form. Accept cookies first, fill company/section/name/address/tel/email, and submit ("I agree").
  4. JST emails the .zip (STEP or IGES) to that address within ~1 minute.
  5. Retrieve the attachment from email and import it. There is no account login for CAD.

Why a real browser is mandatory

jst.com sits behind Cloudflare's bot challenge ("Just a moment… / Performing security verification"). Automated/headless browsers (including pup) get stuck on it. The native-browser bridge drives your actual Chrome window, which already carries Cloudflare's human-trust, so it passes cleanly. If you don't have the bridge installed, set it up first: adom-browser-extension.

(jst.com also shows a "Distributor Login" — that's for distributors, not a CAD gate. You never need it for CAD.)

Step 1 — find the part's series

JST groups CAD by series, not by individual part number.

  • Browse all series: the Series Alphabet Search, https://www.jst-mfg.com/product/index.php?type=5. Every series is a index.php?series=<id> link. This is also your scope list if you ever batch the catalog.
  • Or search a known part: https://www.jst-mfg.com/search/?q=<part>. Strip ordering suffixes first: drop the lead-free/plating (LF)(SN) and any (…) option group, plus a trailing suction-cap T on SMT headers. Example: B10B-PH-K-S(LF)(SN) → search B10B-PH-K-S.

Step 2 — read the CAD format columns

Open the series page. Each part row has Download buttons under format columns. The doc= number in the link is per-series — read the column header, don't assume:

Column (PH series, 199) doc= What you get
IGES 1 3D model, .IGS
STEP 2 3D model, .STEP (prefer this)
3D-PDF 3 3D PDF
2D-PDF 4 dimensioned drawing PDF

⚠️ Coverage varies. Some older series offer only IGES (no STEP). If there's no STEP, take IGES and convert downstream (step2glb / service-kicad).

The download link itself looks like: https://www.jst-mfg.com/product/index.php?type=10&series=<S>&doc=<D>&filename=<PART>.zip

Step 3 — the agreement form (the gate)

Opening that link does two things on JST's server: it remembers which file you asked for (in your session) and shows a License Agreement page with required fields:

  • Company name, Section name, Name, Address, Telephone, E-Mail (all required), URL (optional).

Accept the cookie banner first — JST states "accept cookies in order to submit any of our forms." Then fill the fields and click "I agree". The page confirms: "The data has been sent to your email address."

Because the requested file is tied to your browser session, the page you open (which sets it) and the submit must happen in the same browser — which is automatic when you drive it in one window.

For a large batch, request to a filtered alias (e.g. [email protected]) so the attachments are easy to isolate and your main inbox isn't buried.

Step 4 — retrieve the emailed file

This is the part that needs an email-reading capability, which is account-specific and therefore not bundled into chip-fetcher. Pick the path for your provider.

Gmail / Google Workspace → adom-google

adom-google reads Gmail via the API (no browser automation):

adom-google status                                   # confirm Gmail scope is authorized
# find the JST mail (strip the leading "HTTP 200 …" line before parsing JSON):
adom-google api "https://gmail.googleapis.com/gmail/v1/users/me/messages" \
    -q q="JST newer_than:1d" -q maxResults=5
adom-google gmail attachments <messageId>            # lists "<PART>.zip … id: <attId>"
adom-google gmail read <messageId> <attId> -o <PART>.zip

Tip: IGES and STEP both arrive as <PART>.zip — tell them apart by the inner file (.STEP vs .IGS) and take the newest matching message.

Not a Gmail user? Build it, share it, breadcrumb it

If you're on Microsoft 365/Outlook, Fastmail, a corporate IMAP server, etc., adom-google doesn't apply. You need a small equivalent that (1) connects to your mailbox (Microsoft Graph, IMAP, JMAP…), (2) finds the manufacturer mail, and (3) saves the .zip attachment — the same three steps as above.

Then share it so nobody re-solves it:

  • Publish your fetcher as a small CLI/skill on the Adom Wiki (the way adom-google is published). Keep secrets local; mirror the attachments / read verb shape so this doc's steps still read true.
  • Drop a chip-fetcher breadcrumb pointing at your fetcher, so it auto-surfaces from this page for the next person on your provider — no edit to chip-fetcher required.

That keeps chip-fetcher provider-agnostic: the email layer is a pluggable, community-extensible piece, and every new provider integration is discoverable right here.

Step 5 — datasheet + import

JST has no per-part datasheet; use the series catalog PDF, a plain direct download (no gate): https://www.jst-mfg.com/product/pdf/eng/e<SERIES>.pdf (e.g. ePH.pdf). The per-part 2D-PDF drawing is the mechanical print.

adom-chip-fetcher import <PART>.STEP --mpn <PART>
adom-chip-fetcher import <catalog>.pdf --mpn <PART>

What JST gives you — and what it doesn't

JST supplies 3D models (STEP/IGES) + drawings + the series catalog datasheet only. It does not supply EDA symbol (.kicad_sym) or footprint (.kicad_mod). Those still come from chip-fetcher's normal ladder (SnapEDA/SnapMagic → Mouser → DigiKey → UL/CSE). adom-chip-fetcher gate will correctly keep a JST card incomplete until the symbol + footprint land — that's expected, not a bug.

Batch hazards (read before crawling the catalog)

  • The full catalog is ~600 series × tens of thousands of parts → that many form submits and emails. Throttle hard (human-like 2–5s delays), route to a filtered alias, and expect JST to rate-limit. Scope deliberately (a priority set of series, or per-BOM) rather than blasting everything.
  • One email per file; STEP and IGES are separate requests/emails.

See also